Rotary engine.



C. MILLER.

I I ROTARY ENGINE. APPLICATION FILED JULY14, 19H. RENEWED JULY 21 1915Patented Mar. 7, 1916 [SHEETS-SHEET WITNESSES.

IIVI/EIVTOH EHARL 5 MILLER THE CULUABIA PLANOQRAPH CO, WASHING r0", D-Cv A TTORNE Y8 C. MILLER.-

v ROTARY ENGINE. APPLICATION FILED 1uLY14. 1911. RENEWED JULY 2 1915.

1,174,431. I Patented Mar. 7,1916.

YSHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES: I INVENTOR Gilli/Hi5 llrllLLE/fv BY M ATTORNEYS THE COLUMBIAFLANOGIIAPH co., WASHINGTON, D. c.

C. MILLER.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULYM. 1911. RENEWED JULY 2. 1915. 1

1,174,481. Patented Mar.7,1916.

- 7 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

'IIIIIII W II- WITIVESSES: l/VVE/VTOH CHAR/.55 MILLER ATTORNEYS THECOLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH c0., WASHINGTON, D. c.

C. MILLER.

ROTARY ENGINE. APEEICATIQN nL D1uLY14. 1911. RENEWED JULY 2, 1915.

Patented Mar. 7, 1916.

7 SHEETSSHEET 4.

" l i i WITNESSES: j IN VEN TOR ATTORNEYS THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH 3 0.,WASHINGTON, D. c.

C. MILLER.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FlLEDJULY14,l9H- RENEWED JULY 2, 1915.

Patented Mar. 7, 1916.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

3 I IIllll Illll llllllllllllllllllll Inf mmummuuumm mum / E Hum;

' Illlil THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAFH :0, WASHINGTON, n, c.

' Afromvsrs C. MILLER.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULYI4, 1911; RENEWED mu 2, m5.

Patented Mar. 7', 1916.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 6.

THE COLUMBIA PLANOURAPH .20., WASHINGTON. D. C.

Camus M/LLER C. MlLLER.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY14, 19H. RENEWED JULY 2, 19l5.

1; 174,43 Patented Mar. 7, 1916.

- ISHEET SiSHEET 1. v

INVENTOR zzramww THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co., WASHINGTON. D. C.

ZGHAIRLES MIDI-EB, o

QQITAEY ENGINE.

--i e e of e ie et- 'Batented Manama.

Application filed July 14, 1911, Serial No. 635,436. n ea ui a, 1915.SerialNo. 37,7 1.

' To all whom z'tmay concern:

*Beitknown that I, cHARLEs M ILLER, a citizen of the-United States,residing in the city, county, and State ofNew Y'o'rk have invented a newand useful lmprovementin Rotary Engines, of which the following is aSpecification. f

=My invention relates-to the type of rotary enginein which one or morepistons, consti tuting a piston system, are driven continuously in onedirection or the other about a central axis and in an-approximateendless pistonchamberto which said pistons are fitted the actuatm mediumbe n an su t- 7 I. I v a I I.

able gas such as steam, air, gasolene, vapor,

' etc., admitted to the chamber under pres sure and :atsuitable times. I

In Patents Nos. 924,173 dated June S, 1909, 931,785 dated August 24,1909,.and

in my pending application 531,881 .filedDe cember-"Y, 1909, I haveshownand described improvejd engines of the general type herein'referredto. I

My present invention relates particularly to an engine of the abovereferred to'ty'pe in which a central piston system is flanked oneach oftwo sides by an abutment with which the piston system cooperates, and isdirectedespecially to the shape of the piston and to certain details ofpiston and valveconstruction, means for packingthe several shaftsagalnst steam leakage, means for packingthe pistons against steamfleakage,I

means for packing the abutments against steam leakage where theyntersect the p ston chamber, and means for opposing a counter pressurepreferably that of"live' steam, upon the inside of theabutments tobalance the pressure upon said' abutments due to the steam in the-pistonchamber,

thereby substantially nullifying the effect of" steam pressure uponthejabutment j oiirna-ls;

My invention'also includes a novel arrangement of' steam admission,ports and means for their control whereby the engine may be more readilyand "quickly under load. v

My present invention is furtherpdirectedto an arrangement of thevalvesand' steam passages with relation to the general enginej structuresuch that the incoming steam may" be quickly effective upon the" pistonsand wire drawing in the passages be -pr evented.

'The object of my invention is tof produ'ee a rotary" engine 'ofihigh.eiiic'iency in which- Fig. 4 is an elevation, similar to that" of steamleakage is effectively guardedagainst,

mechanical tent,-.and pistonclearan ce is niade small/ A further objectof my invention isto provide a construction in which the movingparts-are balanced so speed of operation.

A further object of my invention is to":

provide" a .valve in case of wear.

Other objects will appear ,as the specifi cationproceeds. I i M aeferring to the drawings, .whichlarecapable of easy hereby made apartofthe specification, Fig-' ure l'is a front elevation of preferredformio f mylmproved engine; Fig. 2 iis a plan 'V1QW of thesame,

friction isavoidedto a greater:

I I I I some of the parts- I being omltted-for the sake of clearness;Fig.

of'the piping connected thereto omitted;

Fig. -5- isa sectional elevation taken. along the line 55 of F i'g.-t;,Eig. 6 is a sectio iial View, enlarged, showing the ineans ;.eni

ployed, at the intersection of thelabutnientsf with the piston chambtngfr 'intro-d1icing nentsfor the purpose I component -ofIthe working steampressure on the outer; side of-the. transversesection, taken along theline 7- 7 ofFig. 6; {Fig 8 is asection, similarly.en-' larged, showingdetailso fthe valve construction and adjustment as also the means usedfor packing an; abutment againststeain leakage where intersects thelpiston chain:

liveste'am on" the inner side I of' the I of qi nt qt s th berg" Fig. 9is a section taken along the; line I v a central vertical section,similarly enlarged,

l2 is a similarlyl enlarged elevation of see bl dr st tandF -131m e ml.sec tion .:taken along the line 13 '13 II I 12 Fig. *14 is a similarlyenlarged elevation howmei faeseeb 'ra e Fi i ii diametral section 'go'f.the valve taken along drawsm the same scale as Figs.

of Fig.

r "i i id? m ia .of he.r l eb jt Heme- Wis an edge elevation of one ofthe ab-Iutnients 1 to 4:; and r take'nFaIong the linen-1110i Fig. lying.1

closely similar front and rear portions 6,

6, and provided with a steam chamber, a piston chamber, valves, suitablesteam passages, and incidental structural and operative features,incloses the piston system and the abutments and is supported upon asuitable base 7.

Serial No. 531,881.

For convenience of manufacture and assembly the casing 5 is made in anumber of sections comprising front and rear cylinders 8, 8', in whichis formed the steam chamber 8 major part of the piston chamber 9; end

section 10 comprising segments of rings embracing a considerable part ofeach abut- "ment 4, 4, and bolted at 11 to the cylfront and rearabutment heads 12, 12 bolted to the end sections inder heads 10 and toblocks 18 described later; packing boxes 13 closing the abutment heads.and the rear cylinder head centrally anda main packing box 14 closingthe central opening ofthe front cylinder head and carrying the outboardbearing 15 for the main shaft 16 upon which is keyed the piston system.The packing boxes 13 for the two front abutment heads also constitutejournal boxes .for the shafts 17, to which are keyed the two abutments.I

For reasons to be later set forth those portions of the piston chamber 9which fall within. the periphery of the two abutment systems 4, 4, areformed in separate blocks 18 '(Figs. '3, 6 and 7) these blocks aresubstantially circular segments and each is made in two halves which arerespectively bolted at 19 to the front and rear cylinder heads.

The abutments (Figs. 4 and 17 are of the general" type shown in myPatent 924,173 previously referred to and,"in an improved form, in mypending application Each is a structure comprising two identical anddiametrically opposite thin tubular segments or heads 20 having ends andsides respectively parallel.

and perpendicular to shaft 17, said-segments being centrally united asalso affixed to said shaft by a thin core 21. Opposite sides of oppositesegments are united by narrow ring sections 22 at top and bottom, theserings usually being continuing, portions of. the segments themselves andhence integrally a part thereof. Each pair of segments is adapted tomove in an annular abutment slot 23 which is formed in the casing 1 andintersects the piston chamber 9. This slot is axially longer than thediameter of the piston chamber, thus extending beyond said chamber oneach side.

The cylinder heads 8, 8 are hollow or cupshaped, are faced outside thepiston chamber 9 so as to be bolted together, and spaced apart insidesaid piston chamber so to hug the'face of the piston core 3 just outsidethe shoulder 24 (Fig. 12), the heads being bored out cylindrically forthis purpose and to slidably engage the cylindrical valves 25 which arefastened to the two faces of the piston system by bolts 26 (Fig. 14) andrevolve with it. Each valve comprises an outer tubular section in whichare opposite inlet ports 27, an inner tubular section joined to the hubof the piston system by bolts 28 (Figs. 8, 10 and 11), and a webconnecting said two sections through which web pass the aforesaid bolts26. To allow of adjustment of these valves for wear each is preferablymade in three segments which are individually radially adj ustable bymeans of the bolts 26 and 28, the web being slotted for the purposewhere bolts 26' pass through; and to avoid steam leakage at thejunctions of the valve segments a spring pressed closure .plate 29 isfitted to each of said junctions (Figs. 14 and 15) so as to maintain thesame per manently closed. This closure plate has a curved peripheralportion which is conformed to the inner surface of the outer tubularsection of the valve and a flange portion 30 dovetailed into the edge ofsaid outer tubular section whereby the closure plate is maintained inposition.

To cooperate with the valve ports 27 two sets of diametrically oppositemain inlet ports 31 are formed in each cylinder head just above theintersection of the abutment 4 with the piston chamber 9 on the left ofthe engine (Fig. 1) andjust below the corresponding intersection on. theright hand side. Steam is admitted by a main inlet pipe 32 directly tothe steam chamber 8 of the rear cylinder head. Exhaust ports 33corresponding to theinlet ports 31 are located diametrically oppositeone another (Fig. 4)

at the lower intersection of abutment and piston chamber to the left ofthe engine and at the upper intersection to the right of the engine;they communicate with the two members 34 of a bifurcated exhaust pipe35. Holes 35; bored through the piston core 3 connect the two steamchambers 8 of the front and rear cylinder heads.- Shaft 16 carrying thepiston system 1 and shafts 17 carrying the abutments 4, 4' are provided,on one side of the engine, with gear wheels 36 of equal diameter meshingwith one another and thus compelling the shafts to role ees? tate withthe same angular velocity; these pulleys; maybe inclosed in a protectingcasing 37.' By providing any one ofthethree shafts (one ofthe shaftsfl'?in the drawing) preferably the main shaft 16, with a smooth pulley powermay be taken from the engine. A. governor 38 of conventional type anddriven from any one of the shafts acts directly upon the steam supply tocontrol the same in the usual way according to the speed.

. lThe operation: of my improved. engine is as. follows: The" movingparts being as indicated in Fig.4, steam having been admitted to themain inlet pipe 32,.instantly fills the steam chamber 8 of the frontcylinder head and, throughthe holes 30, the .corresponding steam chamberof the rear cylinder headand from both of said steam chambers passesthrough the inlet ports27 of both valves into and throughthe main inlet,ports 31in the walls of the cylinder heads into the piston chamber 9betweenthe pistons 2 and the abutment heads 20.- As

shown in Fig. 4 the valve ports27 and the' inlet "ports 31 have justbegunto register or uncover one, another; of course, if these,

valvesl'are entirely out of register the engine will require to beturned over by hand so'as to bring said valves into registry before theengine can be started. The pistons; will thus be driven in thedirectionof the arrow, the valves 25 being carried with 'the pistons so as to"shut off the inlet ports 31-after rotation through an angle themagnitude of which will dependupon the dl mensionsof the ports 27 and'31So. soon as the. steam is thus-cut off each piston, wliicliavill haverotated through the same angle, will continue to rotate under the ex-.

' pension of the steam" now in the piston chamber until it hasreachedand left behind some portion of the exhaust port. 33 when the steam willbegin to exhaust through said port and the'exhaust pipes 34 and 35.

By reason of the ,meshed gear wheels 36' the abutments 4,4 rotate withthe piston systemjl, so that as each piston 2 passes the'exhaust port33it enters the openingbetween the abutment heads 20 passing "out. ofsaid opening just beforeit traverses the inlet ports 31.

,Toinsure steam tight connection between each piston. 2 and thesteamchamber 9,. -springrings 38 are peripherally attached to saidpistons, as is practised in reciprocatlng engines.) Toflpreven't.steainbeing lost from the piston chamber 9 past'the abubment head 20,1 employan abutment packing ring 39 (Fig.8) let into" the cylinder 5 head so asto surroundsaid piston'chamber; this ring i'sconformed to the'icurve ofthe abutment head and kept pressed against said head by coiledsprings-40. This "ring is po- =-sitioned, of].course,-:before the blocks.18 are opening between the abutment heads 20 does not extendinto theabutment slots 23 and since these heads are connected within theseslots'by bands continuous and integral I attachedto the cylinder heads:Since the i with said headsthe packing rings will ala ways ride smoothlyupon said bands.

, Steam being simultaneously admitted to diametrically opposite portionsof the piston chamber, the resultant lateral pressure upon the mainshaft 16 is always perfectly balanced so that this shaft should run withbut slight journal friction. There is, however, no such normal balancingfor the pressure effective upon the outside of abutment heads 20 so thatnormally not only would there be excessive journal friction between theshafts 17 and their bearings, but the abutment heads themselves, beingof relatively thin material, would tend to bend as a they pass throughthe piston chamber 9 be slot and an annular space around this cup shapedend in which is a small packing ring '42having a faceconformed to thecurve of the; abutment head and kept outwardly pressed against said headby a coiled spring 43. The opening 44 through the center of plug 41connects the space atqthe outer end ofthe plug with chamber 45 in block18 and into this chamber livesteam is brought direct from the main inletpipe 32 by means of auxiliary pipes 46. Eachpressurecomi 11-0 pensator41, therefore; exerts an outward pressure upon the abutment head 20opposing. the inward pressure due to the working 1 steam in thepiston'chamber9 and the mag nitudeof this pressure, is, of course, pr0-portionaltothe area of the abutment head surface inclosedby thepackingring 42. By causing the sum of the surface areas in closed withinthe several packing rings to be equal-to half ofthe area: which isexposed to the working steam pressure in thepiston chamber, z'. e.,tohalf ofthe abutment head area I cut off by the piston chamber theaveragefinward pressure due to the working 'steam -in the piston chamberwillbe perfectly balanced.

Live steam for the pressure compensaters need not, fcourse, be takendirect from the main steam. pipe, but connection maybe madetoany'co-nvenient point. Or the pressure compensators -may beconnectedwith-" 3 I the piston chamber at or near the inlet ports 31, sothat the ressure per unit of area due to the compensators will rise andfall exactly as does the working pressure per unit of area upon theouter periphery of the abutment head; in this case the sum of thecompensator areas should equal the abutment head area cut off by thepiston chamher.

After a piston has passed an exhaust port 33 and as it is passing to acorresponding position on the other side of the horizontal center lineof the engine, consideration will show that the volume between thepiston and the abutment head just in advance of said piston isconstantly decreasing so that any steam or air contained therein will becompressed. This, of course, will operate like any other back pressureand tend to lessen the speed ofthe engine and to lower .In order tolessen the clearance at the.

rear end of each piston between said piston and the abutment heads 20and thereby 111 crease the efliciency of my englne, I shape said pistonend to curve outwardly and laterally so that as the piston passes intothe open space between the abutment heads every part of said end willjust escape touching the adjacent end of the abutment head.Mathematically the shape of this piston end is such that itsintersection with each and every plane passing through it perpendicularto the axis of rotation of the piston sys- 'tem will be an epicycloidregardless of the relative speeds of the piston system and of theabutments.

. To prevent steam leaking from the in- I terior of the engine along theshafts 16 and 17, I employ packing rings 46 (Figs. 3 and 11) set inrecesses formed upon the inner faces of the packing boxes 13 and 14 andpressed outwardly against ,the hubs of the abutments and of the pistonsystem by coiled springs 47. The abutting faces of said hubs and of thecorresponding faces of v the packing rings and packing boxes12 and 14must, of course, be accurately machined and surfaced.

5 Oil cups 48 are placed at the top of steam pipes 46 and by their meansoil is introduced into the engine between the compensator packing rings42 and the abutment heads.

In descrlbmg the operation of my improved engine, I have stated that, ifthe. valve ports 27 and the inlet ports 31 are out of registry theengine will require to be turned over by hand in order to start it. Thisprocedure may be avoided by providing additional inlet ports, similar tothe inlet port 31, between the steam chambers 8 and the piston chamber 9and in advance of port 31, these additional ports being positioned toregister successively with the valve port 27 as the valve rotates andprovision being made for closing these extra ports as soon as the engineis well started. In the drawings (Figs; 4 and 11) I have shown but oneadditional port in advance ofeach port 31 others being omitted to avoidconfusion; in practice as many extra ports may be used as is thoughtdesirable.

'To open and close the extra ports 49 at will I employ a valve closurecomprising two tubular segments 50 (Figs- 18 and 19) each of which issnugly fitted in an annular recessed portion 51 of the rear cylinderhead 8 lying just outside of the valve 25, so as to have close contactwith the inner periphery of the cylinder head end with the outerperiphery of thevalve. These segments are united to arms 52 which oin acentral ring 53 rotatably mounted upon the packing box 13. Teeth uponthe outer periphery of ring 53 mesh with a pinion 54 fixed to a spindle55 carried upon the same packing box 13; this spindle has an outersquared end adapted to be engaged by a keyso as to be rotated. In thisway the extra ports 49 will be closed off or opened by the segments 50.This provision of the extra ports will be found particularly useful instarting the engine under load since each port enables the piston to beacted upon by the full pressure of the live steam instead of requiringthat the piston move from the main inlet to the exhaust port under theexpansion of a single initial charge of steam.

' Instead of making myvalve in sections which are radially adjustable totake up wear, I, may if I prefer place a spring pressed packing ringabout the steam ports so as to bear against the valve. The constructionof this ring and its mode of attachment to the casing may be similar tothat used for th abutment packing ring previously described. I V

1. In a rotary engine having a casing provided with an annular pistonchamber and a piston adapted to rotate in said chamber, the combinationof an abutment head adapted'to periodically intersect said pistonchamher, said head comprising opposite segments united by top and bottomring sections and packing means surrounding the piston chamber andadapted to press against said ring sections to prevent steam leakage.

2. In a rotary engine having a casing provided with an annular pistonchamber and a piston adapted to rotate in said chamber,

the combination of an abutment head adapted to periodically intersectsaid piston cham-' ber, saidhead comprising opposite segments united bytop and bottom ring sections, a packing ring surrounding the pistonchan1- I ber adjacent to said abutment and pressing against said ringsections, and springs pressing against said rings.

3. In a rotary engine the combination of a casing provided I with anannular piston chamber and opposite steam chambers, a piston-systemprovided with a core which constitutes a wall between the said steamchambers and having pistons adapted to rotate in said piston chamber,and an abut ment head adapted to cooperate with said pistons, said corehaving holes therethrough for the passage of steam from one steamchamber to the other. v

4. In a rotary engine the combination of a casing provided with anannular piston chamberand opposite steam chambers having wallsconcentric with said piston chamher, a plston systemprovlded with a corewhich constitutes a Wall between said steam chambers and havingpistonsadapted to rotate in said piston chamber, an abutment head adaptedto'cooperate with said pistons, ports in the walls of said steamchambers communicating with the piston chambers-and a valve fixed to thecore of said piston system and adapted to control said ports.

5. In a rotary enginehaving an annular witnesses.

piston chamber, a steam chamber provided with'walls concentric withsaid'piston chamber and having ports communicating with 1 said pistonchamber, and a rotary valve adapted to engage the walls of said steamchamber and control the ports, said valve Copies of this patent may beobtained for five cents each, by addressing the Washington, D. 0.? p i VV being adjustable as to its pensate for wear.

6. In a rotaryengine a cylindrically bored steamchamber providedwithports, and a periphery to comrotary valveada'pted to engage. the wallsof said chamber;and control the ports, said ing steam between saidpiston and said abutment; means comprising passages surrounded bypacking rings bearing upon theabutments for applying pressure to v theabut ment in opposition tothe pressure of the Working steam;

8. In a rotary. engine having anannular piston chamber,a piston adaptedto rotate therein, and a steam chamber provided with walls concentric;with said piston chamber, a plurality said steam chamber so as to openand close all of said rotates and of inlet ports connecting said steamchamber with saidpiston chamber, arotary valve adapted toengage thewalls of portssuccessively as the piston means independent ofthe pistonand the valve also adapted toopen and close some but not all of saidports.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set a I my hand in the V IVitnes'ses v J JOHN A; KEHLE EGK,

' M. LocKwooDfi- Commissioner of Patents}.

presence of two subscribing.

CHARLES MILLER.

